Knowledge is typically acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience. Fortunately, knowledge is often recorded in one form or another, often as text or as images, so that people can use the knowledge and build upon it in the present and in the future, primarily by reading or visualizing. Given that knowledge is connected and interrelated, it may be said that behind any textual or visual information lies the entire body of human knowledge. This canon is of no use, however, if the knowledge is not readily accessible, manageable and expandable, or if the information does not answer or appeal to the current interests and needs of the reader.
This observation is true whether the reader is a kindergarten student learning about fascinating geometric shapes and colors, an accomplished scientist reading the latest scientific journal, a middle school student attempting to read his or her first classic novel, or a history student interested in the French Revolution. Of course, this list of examples could go on indefinitely, but unique and specific to each individual reader or user of knowledge are certain interests and ways of accessing knowledge, as well as a unique body of background knowledge. Additionally, although the human mind has great potential for learning, imagination, and creativity, it also has significant limitations. Research in education, cognition, and neuroscience suggest that there are boundaries on what the mind can do, and there are specific ways in which the mind most efficiently seeks and assimilates knowledge. Therefore, information or knowledge is of little use unless it is readily accessible to, appeals to the interests of, and connects with the existing knowledge of the individual reader at the present moment.
Unfortunately, knowledge is not always accessible, or might be accessible but is difficult to understand. Until very recently, the only way to access and assimilate information was to read paper-based resources such as text on paper or some other medium (e.g., a blackboard or overhead projector). Consequently, bookstores and libraries were erected to make accessible a multitude of paper-based resources to the general public, businesses, and those in academia. Exemplary resources offered by book stores and libraries are topical books, encyclopedias, journals, magazines, and so on where each resource provides paper-text-based reading.
Typically paper-based reading allows one to read comfortably, to quickly navigate or flip between pages, to view an entire page of high-resolution text, to underline, write comments and draw images on the page, and to quickly access the table of contents and index to discern the organization of the text and location of specific contents. Yet, with paper-based reading, the reader cannot access from a paper-based resource any more information than was provided by the author(s) of that resource. For example, the author might refer to an unfamiliar or interesting term or concept, and a curious reader would have to leave the original source and retrieve other paper-based resources to supplement the original paper-based reference; this is not convenient or likely to be done, even if the additional information would expand the reader's understanding or appreciation of the original text, and in so doing expand the reader's body of knowledge. Even using today's large book stores, expansive libraries, and electronic information resources and databases, researching and exploring new and relevant information and references cannot be done optimally, in a way that allows readers to reach the world beyond their original information efficiently. In most cases, supplemental information cannot be easily located, accessed, managed, assimilated or used because of the limitations of paper-based-texts and existing electronic reading devices, methods, or systems.
To deal with the ever-expanding body of human knowledge and the related issues concerning the accessibility of this canon, people have come to increasingly rely on computer technology and electronic reading. Because of the access and speed made possible with electronic-based reading and searching tools, more and more paper-based resources are being converted into electronic format or being replaced with computer technology. Now, if a reader needs to access information in electronic format, they can simply perform an electronic search by using a computer at one location that is connected to a network such as the Internet or a local area network (LAN). Unfortunately, while computer technology and networks like the Internet make accessing and searching vast amounts of information more efficient, they still have significant shortcomings. For example, typing a keyword into a present-day search engine can yield an unmanageable number of hits or matches, of varying relevance and reliability. Such search results can be too difficult to work with, and among other things can leave the reader with a cognitive burden, also referred to as cognitive load.
Cognitive load is the difficulty of not only paying attention to the content of electronic documents, but keeping track of the links and locations between them. Not only does the user expend cognitive resources processing content, but also storing information with respect to the location of the current electronic document, the path taken to the present location, the path back to the original link, and the conceptual connections between the content in each node.
Similarly, disorientation refers to the increased likelihood that a reader is going to lose sense of where they are in the electronic document. Thus readers forget what they have explored and what they have not, and how relevant and important what they have explored is. Electronic documents often lack the linearity and navigational aids of conventional books, including pages that run in order, page numbers, a table of contents, and an alphabetical index. Moreover, by handling a physical book and pages, a reader knows how long the book is and how far they have progressed, whereas an electronic document often reveals little or nothing about its overall size or organization. These differences impair a user's ability to efficiently navigate an electronic document.
Another consequence of increased cognitive load in typical electronic-based environments is cognitive inertia, which describes a reader's pattern of accepting system defaults and minimal levels of system complexity or failure to make use of all of the environment's or system's features, as a means to reduce cognitive load. As a result, the provision of a diversity of features to improve user access to information in an electronic-based-document, which is one of the advantages of computer-based learning environments when compared to printed texts, may not actually benefit users because they are unlikely to use these features in an effort to limit cognitive effort.
Another design consideration in connection with cognitive load relates to the selection and definition of access points or links in an elecironic-based-document. If users are permitted to jump from anywhere to anywhere in hypertext, the result can be “hyperchaos.” Hyperchaos is at the opposite extreme from a predetermined “linear sequence of screens with no deviation possible.” Like cognitive inertia, hyperchaos is an example of how the cognitive cost of additional features, access points, or paths may undermine their utility. Too many choices or features can lead to distraction. In other words, electronic-based documents can be too free form. Some readers can easily become confused and unfocused if left entirely unguided in a hypermedia environment. For other readers, however, too many restrictions in a hypermedia environment are not constructive.
Current electronic resources, including search engines and information databases, might allow a reader to access and search billions of sources electronically, but they do not necessarily present the information in a way that facilitates the reader's comprehension and retention, nor do they offer the necessary electronic tools to deal with the mass of information generated. Thus, electronic resources can often overwhelm the reader with quantity, without providing the reader with the tools the mind needs to assimilate and use the information.
Thus, it would desirable to make it possible for people to more effectively deploy the information they have, find the information they need, and produce their desired work product. There is a need for improving the accessibility and management of information in electronic format.